The history of the National Heart Association is also the history of the growth and development of cardiology as a specialty in the country. The latter is closely associated with improvements in the socio-economic standards of the population and increased public demand for a better service for the community.

Among the several factors that prompted the growth of cardiology and became the stimulus for the start of NHAM are the growth and development of private medicine, the increasing influence of American Cardiology and the discovery and practice of selective coronary angiography, CABG surgery, and later coronary angioplasty.

Dr Nik Zainal who arrived as a trained cardiologist in 1977 organized the first fully equipped cardiac catheterization laboratory at General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. CABG surgery then commenced in 1982. The challenges he faced were explained in his Sukaman Lecture in 1994.

The need for a heart association became pressing after the inauguration of Asean Federation of Cardiology in Bali, Indonesia in 1975. Malaysia represented by Dr R P Pillay, Dr NK Yong and Dr Joseph Eravelly were committed to hold a Congress of Cardiology by 1981. It was the only country in the Asean region that did not have a national cardiac society at that time.

It was only in 1978 that sufficient interest was generated for an inaugural meeting of the NHAM. The first President was R P Pillay, the Vice President was Dr N Krishnan, a thoracic surgeon working at Lady Templer Hospital and the first Secretary was Dr Joseph Eravelly. A Constitution was drafted and the Society obtained registration in 1979. The founding members of the National Heart Association were:

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